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ANITA SAYS..... April 1, 2025  Happy birthday NARTHAKI. 25 years old! How time has flown! Who ever thought that this online infant, created and launched on April 14, 2000, would continue uninterrupted for a quarter of a century and make the impact that it has! Thousands and thousands from the global Indian dance eco system have nurtured, cheered, applauded and welcomed our presence online.   As I write this, it is still sinking in that a small spark in 1992 caught fire to birth two best selling phone books and finally - this online web portal. I salute the small and dedicated team that has kept the back end of this "passion project" of mine going, in spite of all the pressures to give up and cave in. As we congratulate ourselves in our Chennai headquarters, we also send out a collective cheer to all of you who read my thoughts and scour the site for news, interviews and information about dance across the globe. Thank you, readers, members and subscribers. Your positive feedback has been crucial for our sustained motivation. March has been a gruelling month for my ensemble and particularly for me. There were two shows to navigate, various venues to negotiate, and multiple communication blips between the organisers and us. These days the back end of a performance is getting more and more important. It is not enough to just have a programme booking. As artistes, we are also responsible for generating content for social media postings and to maintain the excitement and momentum leading up to the main event.  A Million Sitas The beloved theatre-dance-design show A MILLION SITAS continued its strong journey, impacting audiences across demographics and generations. This solo show, first premiered in a more traditional format in 2012 for the international dance conclave EPIC WOMEN, has evolved to become a palimpsest of international design inputs, improvised dance movements, spoken text, live singing and strong character delineation. I have since added a co-performer/actor/singer Uma Sathyanarayana from the original version of a seated orchestral ensemble. Performed for an invited audience of well-heeled South Mumbai glitterati, the impact of the timeless story was greeted with ovations and tears. "I never knew these interpretations of the women!" was the unanimous chant afterwards. For every Indian woman, SITA looms large. An epitome of perfection, loyalty, intelligence and suffering. Yet, her final moments in the epic are tragic and disappointing. The sandpapering of her final days, the betrayal and the final reclaiming of her agency as she decides her last moments on earth will be her choice are rarely recounted. Even after so many shows, I still become emotional during the final monologue. "Where is my justice?" Sita asks of Rama. As I make the final walk in a pool of light, I almost always have tears in my eyes. May I now add how difficult it is for any live arts professional to collide with a cricket match? On the day of our SITA show, at least 25 friends stayed at home to watch the India vs Australia match. When I told them that they could track the scores on their phones from their seats in the hall, they each had a specific excuse as to why they HAD to watch it from their homes, on a particular chair so that India would win! The SITA show still had a large crowd that assembled in the glittering ballroom but quickly vanished soon after "to watch the match" and I realised (again!) that in India you simply cannot go up against Cricket! You will be clean bowled! Immediately after SITA, I had to switch roles and character to reprise another beloved production. NAACHIYAR NEXT was travelling to Bengaluru and Mumbai after a Chennai show. This, being my 5th full length work on the mystic poet ANDAL and the first where I do not play the central character has forced me to rethink the entire genre of performance. Fortunately, the dancers are now accustomed to my constant prodding for them to think about intention, reaction and action to lines, movement and mood. We welcomed G Reshma back into the fold as the gypsy fortune teller and the dancers watched how her time in Tamil theatre has added maturity to her stage presence. I enjoy open minded and large hearted dance community in Bengaluru who welcomed back the legend of Andal with wet eyes and generous praise.  The Naachiyar Next team Tackling the giant metro of maximum city Mumbai was a challenge and a delight, with the glittering NMACC being the host. The STUDIO THEATRE was the venue for the 25th show of NAACHIYAR NEXT. Without our senior lighting designer Victor Paulraj on lights (he is touring the USA with dancers Shijith and Parvathy) the next generation stepped in. Mohan and Rahul executed the technical demands smoothly - the theatre equipped with every possible apparatus possible. May I add that the theatre has a dream team of technicians and equipment but a challenging design without traditional wings or a crossover provision. We adapted the choreography accordingly. Dance curators at NMACC, Anand Satchidanandan and Kshama Puranik have their hands completely full. 8 to 10 dance shows a month and a glut of performances in the other venues makes marketing a challenge. Bringing audiences to dance - classical and neo classical - continues to force venues and organisers to think differently. Marketing dance and all the live arts have shifted focus and attention onto social media, podcasts and Instagram in particular. However, there is little synergy between visibility and audience actually buying tickets. It seems to be a jigsaw puzzle that shape shifts each time. NAACHIYAR NEXT was honoured to have a full house, a prolonged standing ovation with profuse compliments afterwards! This is the best "after party" any artiste can hope for! A PLATINUM MOMENT   Meanwhile Elsewhere What does it take to create a dance academy and cultural crucible that touches the 75-year mark? Vision, timing, opportunity, determination and lots of hard work. One dynamic young woman from Madras/Chennai had a dream to bring classical dance to Gujarat. She was Mrinalini Sarabhai, the founder of DARPANA. The word means "mirror" and the goal was to create a centre that would reflect and refract excellence in Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali as well as the folk arts and crafts of her new home state - Gujarat. Cheered on and lovingly supported by her husband - scientist, industrialist and aesthete Vikram Sarabhai - DARPANA is now a major cultural landmark in India. Now led by daughter Mallika, DARPANA's 75th anniversary celebration became the occasion to stage their latest and visually stunning production MEANWHILE ELSEWHERE at the NATARANI amphitheatre. The multimedia show is inspired by the 1972 book INVISIBLE CITIES by Italo Calvino - a postmodern novel that explores the relationship between memory, place and desire. Sitting amidst a full house of 400 students and seniors from architecture, management, ecology, design and other disciplines, I was buoyed by the energy in the crowd that responded to the abstract and beautiful presentation. The 90-minute inter-disciplinary show included dance, improvised movement, dialogue in several languages and a complex visual and stage design. The transparent scrim that separated the 28 actor-dancer-performers from the audience, carried several evocative lines, which formed the premise of voyager Marco Polo and his conversations with Kublai Khan about his storied travels. Each day: we bury the past and call it progress In my dreams: I never sleep I left: but the city followed me. I follow the threads: but the pattern eludes me Special mention has to be made of the recorded sound design which was so perfectly in tandem with the live "ghatam". Acoustically, the evening was excellent in the open air setting. The set design allowed for levels, layers and disappearing darkness - each element adding to the warp and weft of the show. The multi sensorial visual spectacle of MEANWHILE ELSEWHERE is a testament to the alchemy of dreams, ideation, collaboration, trust and performance abilities. A significant moment for director and ideator YADAVAN CHANDRAN, who has achieved something truly remarkable in the landscape of 21st century Indian performing arts. As I write from memory, there are several moments that stand out - the touching story of a hitchhiker and a truck driver who only asks for a kiss in lieu of payment. The vanished innocence and disappearing visual history of Ahmedabad. The robotic cloning of consumerism. The vignettes were like Haikus, brief sketches that evoked our own memories and sense of longing. LEFT BRAIN - RIGHT BRAIN At the entrance of DARPANA are two large black and white portraits of its founders. Above dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai is written the word SCIENTIST. Above the image of her husband Vikram Sarabhai is the word ARTIST. In real life, these two words should be exchanged but it would then limit the understanding of how beautifully both these individuals, partners in life and sharing a dream of an independent India, lived their dreams. It shows that the working of both hemispheres of the brain may not be practical in one human being. However, when in perfect tandem, history can be achieved. There are many talented techies working their left brain - logical, analytical and practical - while subduing the other half- spatial awareness, creativity and imagination. Now think of the Bay Area, USA and imagine hundreds and hundreds of dancer-techies in the work force. Yes, there are several who continue their passion for dance through online teaching with India while maintaining high pressure jobs in Silicon Valley. An example of how both sides of the brain are firing at different times, one for the lived life and the other for the curious spirit.  Mythili Kumar  Anupama Mayooranathan BHAKTI-DANCE - BOOM TIME It appears that classical music and dance are enjoying a return to popularity. Although yoked to the Faith wagon. With BHAKTI TOURISM in India skyrocketing, the traditional performing arts are also enjoying a big boost. Ever since independence 78 years ago, Indian classical music and dance commanded respect and headlines. Over time, changing audience tastes and lifestyles gave rise to other creative genres. Solo classical dance is fast vanishing from main stages except in select festivals. Groups, however, are in greater demand than ever. For young dancers attached to a guru or a company, this is a wonderful time to be on stage at various events yoked to faith and ritual. Heritage festivals have always favoured classical arts but now the demand has risen sharply. Temple tours in South India routinely invite a dancer or a musician to perform or interpret a traditional composition based on a particular shrine. If the performing artiste is able to adapt to different environments like makeshift stages along river banks, sacred ghats and historic forts, it is truly boom time for a classical dancer and musician. AI & BHARATANATYAM   Will AI destroy or capture most professions in the next 10 years? Tech billionaire Bill Gates seems to think so. According to Gates, the professions that seem safe are chefs and coding. There are several other opinions but the world of painting and visual arts seems to be already reeling from the effects of AI. I was forwarded a video and a reel of an AI generated cat dressed in what looked like a classical Bharatanatyam costume posing. How quickly can technology create the AI avatar doing an Alarippu? Not too far away! Complex rhythm compositions can be created without the interventions of gurus or seniors. Recently, Chat GPT, the popular AI bot, faced a global outage when the demand for Studio Ghibli-style image generation surged. What havoc will these new “gremlins” unleash on the creative world? How will art, performance, audiences and presenters grapple with this exciting and worrying development? UK ACADEMIC RUMBLES As academic freedom is being curtailed around the world, the SADE South Asian dance webinar is continuing its stance on de-Centring Indian dance practice from faith based content. What began a year ago continues its mandate of shifting focus on forms like Himalayan performance traditions and continuing to ride the identity politics highway that created a storm of controversy not too long ago. This newsletter edition carries a strong statement by dance scholar Dr Avanthi Meduri on the developments which could perhaps influence another generation of dance students and scholars. I wonder how non-Indian students from Russia, Japan, Italy, France, China, Germany, Argentina, Chile, Australia and elsewhere feel about this ongoing debate in South Asian dance academia about caste and identity? Do they really care what identity their teachers are? Do they declare their preferred pronouns before joining class? Do they ask to learn compositions based only on the musician’s identity? Do presenters and agents select clients based on talent, ability and potential or their social identity? Can these well-funded academic debates include the views of teachers, practitioners and those engaged in the world of fund raising, producing, programming and touring dance artistes? A SILVER ANNIVERSARY  As the NARTHAKI portal completes a quarter of a century, I try to take stock of what has been accomplished in this blur of changes to our lives and work habits. We know how technology and AI have upended many professions. We have navigated the analog world and are smack in the heart of dizzying changes that I have to confess, my team is trying to understand. My own social media team who crafted my Instagram presence to reflect, maturity, style, elegance, experiential wisdom and fashion saw the hard work being blatantly stolen by scammers for fraudulent use. In my travels and interactions with artistes across the world, I am constantly touched by how much a mention or a review in NARTHAKI has meant for someone who is young and starting out. One young dancer in Bengaluru told me that she used a review from the portal for her US visa application to give it heft. We acknowledge that we are perhaps the only space for all kinds of discussions about dance, theatre and music with a consistent online presence for 25 years. Today, there are so many platforms to discuss the arts. Each of them are competing for attention. In this hyper fast highway of information, where does NARTHAKI fit in? Chugging along just because we are one of the first to embrace technology does not mean much in today's climate. There is much to do - perhaps too much. If digital information can be stolen, copied, cloned and misused, then what happens to years and years of dedicated work? We realise that we cannot be everybody and everything in dance for you. But we ARE valuable to so many of you. Feedback and comments are disappearing on our platforms but are emerging on other spaces where we are quoted and cited. It has not been easy to maintain this channel of communication with the dance world through the past 25 years. Our goals have shifted and the horizon is as yet unclear. But we continue to hold onto the early promise that our efforts have touched so many of you and that, despite the many hurdles and challenges of naysayers who have tried to cancel us, we are here and committed to the safe and positive ecology of the Indian dance sphere. Thank you. Continue to read. Subscribe and listen to the monthly podcast ANITA SAYS. Until we meet again Anita R Ratnam anitaratnam.com  Do listen, share and subscribe to our podcast ANITA SAYS on Spotify. Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook    Response * Congratulations to Narthaki.com, to Anita and her team for reaching a Silver Jubilee! 25 years of this project has been most useful and enlightening in publishing creative articles, reviews, news, and announcements that are useful to a global audience interested in and dedicated to Indian dance and the performing arts. Thank you for delivering narthaki.com each month! Onward to the next 25 years! - Ketu Katrak (April 1, 2025) Post your comments |
